Anugerah Planet Muzik 2008 in Kuala Lumpur

This year, fans of the regional Anugerah Planet Muzik (APM) awards in Malaysia have more reason to look forward to this music event. The awards will return to Kuala Lumpur after a four-year break, at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre.

Organized by MediaCorp Radio’s Ria 89.7FM and Warna 94.2FM, APM 2008, which will be held on Sunday 20 April 2008, will bring together celebrities and artistes from Indonesia, Singapore, and Malaysia to honour the best music talents and works in the Malay music industry.

Into its 8th year, APM will present 17 prestigious award categories, including 11 Best categories and 6 Most Popular awards. Nominations for Best categories are open to music albums released in Singapore, Malaysia, and Indonesia from 1 November 2006 to 31 December 2007. Music fans and lovers can also look forward to voting for their favourite artistes and songs in the Most Popular award categories.

Nominees for the various award categories were announced at a press conference in Singapore held at Hard Rock Café on 25 Feb 2008. Concurrently, a press conference in Kuala Lumpur was held at Breakers, Desa Sri Hartamas. Local new artiste Aliff Aziz was nominated for 6 award categories, including Best New Male Artiste, Best Act (Singapore), Best Song (Singapore), Best Album (Singapore), Most Popular Act (Singapore), and Most Popular Song (Singapore). Singapore’s own local band Cradle was also nominated for 6 awards.

Last year, the awards honoured accomplished artiste Zainal Abidin with the inaugural Planet Music Humanitarian Award, in recognition of his efforts in spreading environmental awareness through his music. For the second year running, APM 2008 will continue to present this prestigious award to an iconic artiste, selected by the panel of judges, to acknowledge the artiste’s ground-breaking contributions to humanitarian causes.

Ms Zakiah Halim, Vice President (Malay, Indian and Community Programming), MediaCorp Radio, says, "MediaCorp Radio is happy to continue our support and do its part in promoting the Malay music industry. We want to keep honouring the best artistes, producers and music in the region, as well as in Singapore. We are looking forward to staging the awards in Kuala Lumpur once again and expect that the event will be well supported by all."

Anugerah Planet Muzik 2008 will be held on 20 April 2008 (Sunday), 8:30 PM, at Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre, Exhibition Hall 1 & 2. Ticketing details will be released closer to date.

Thumbs up from local artistes at the press conference as a show of support for Anugerah Planet Muzik 2008.